Sunday, May 22, 2011

Beef Cabbage Stew (Slow Cooker)

I love this beef stew. I remember my mom making it, at least once, while I was in high school. It uses cabbage, but it cooks down and blends into the stew and is just so good! The original recipe is cooked on the stove-top, but I adapted this for the slow cooker. I love most soups and especially stews, in the slow cooker. The longer you cook this, the thicker it becomes, which is not a bad thing. The pictures were taken of the leftovers the next day, which were even thicker than the first night. (There were only enough leftovers for me to have one bowl for lunch the next day, by the way).

1. In a large skillet, brown beef in about 1 tablespoon olive oil. Cook the onions with the beef. Transfer to a large slow cooker.

2. Add the beef broth, pepper, bay leaf, potatoes, celery, cabbage, carrot, and tomato sauce. Do not add salt yet- taste at the end of cooking time and add if necessary. The mixture may look like it needs more water- do not add any at this point, because the veggies will release a lot of water. After a few hours, you can add a little if you think it really needs it.

3. Cook on low for about 8 hours, or until meat and veggies are tender.

3 comments:

Anonymous
said...

I cooked this in the oven at 275 degrees F. I did not brown the meat. I simply mixed all the ingredients together in a Le Creuset Dutch oven, covered it with the lid, and put the whole thing into the preheated oven. I let it cook slowly for 5 hours. Absolutely delicious. Fairly hassle-free and quite possibly the best beef stew I've ever made. Thank you so much!

The cooking method came from a recipe in Peg Bracken's "I Hate to Cook Book" published in 1960. The recipe was called "Stayabed Stew": "for those days when you're en negligee, en bed, with a murder story and a box of bonbons, or possibly a good case of flu." The recipe ended: "Put the lid on and put the casserole in a 275 degree oven. Now go back to bed. It will cook happily all by itself and be done in five hours." I love this method (and my Le Creuset pot!) but I like your list of ingredients better. Deep, hearty flavor. Just what beef stew ought to be. And the leftovers are delicious. Simply wonderful and so easy.

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I love living overseas- I've now spent over half my life living in other countries! I love food and travel. I hope you will enjoy the recipes and photos I share with you. If you have questions, (nice) comments, or feedback about a recipe or something else, I'd love to hear from you!